Restaurants

By Guy Dimond

When the first branch of Cah Chi opened in Raynes Park in 1995, it must have been a huge gamble for the Park family who run it. There were still very few Korean restaurants in the area at the time, and the restaurant's location – down a traffic-free suburban side street – doesn’t exactly attract passing interest. But like 'Field of Dreams', if you build it, they will come.

Greater London's Korean population of around 20,000 is mostly based in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, because of New Malden's proximity to the Samsung HQ. On my visits in those early years the place was always packed with happy, relaxed Koreans enjoying a taste of home. And judging by the surprise that usually greeted our arrival, I suspect we were the only non-Korean faces they saw in the restaurant for weeks at a time.

How things have changed. We're sitting in the new, second branch of Cah Chi, which at first seems even more improbably located (Earlsfield's Korean population: probably zero) and yet the diners – every table full, every night – are nearly all non-Korean. The only Korean faces in the restaurant on our last visit were the smiling staff.

So has Cah Chi sold out, to peddle a watered-down version the homely Korean food they used to serve? Hardly. It's true that some of the dishes, such as the Korean black pudding made with blood and vermicelli, don't appear on this menu. But the taste of the ten dishes we’ve tried was every bit as good as Raynes Park, and just as terrific value.

Every Korean meal should kick off with a selection of namul (pickled appetisers). Kim chee is the best-known, usually fermented Chinese cabbage that's given extra kick with chilli. Here, the namul are modest in portion and ferocity, but still pique the appetite.

Cah Chi isn't the kind of themed Korean barbecue restaurant you find in many other parts of the world, but being Korean, it does do a respectable barbecue on the small, tabletop gas burners. My own favourite dishes include pa jeon, a flour pancake with a filling of spring onions and seafood; and what on this menu they call 'yuk-hoi dol-sot bap', matchsticks of raw beef, rice and pickles served in a sizzling hot stone bowl, which cooks the food on contact and creates a very appealing rice 'crust'. Desserts consist of a few cubes of melon, or maybe fresh orange, gratis.

Service is unfailingly smiling and enthusiastic, though the standard of spoken English is variable. Useful tip for the cost-conscious? You can bring in your own wine for a (bargain) corkage charge of £2 per bottle, but you can't bring your own beer; Cah Chi’s bottled lagers are £3 a pop.

Time Out London Issue 1993: October 30-November 5 2008